Beachgoers Find The Coast Is Clear In Delray

On Sunday, Melissa Poston lay roasting on her stomach on Delray Beach's Atlantic Dunes beachfront park, book in hand, shiny with tanning oil. She was one among many.

The day was muggy and just slightly breezy, and the lifeguard's green flag -- a good day to swim -- fluttered. There was nothing of the concern that had stricken beaches along the coast's southern end in recent weeks, keeping beachgoers out of the water because of unusual or unexplained contaminations.

Poston had a different concern.

"I was more worried about the rain, actually," said Poston, who moved to Delray Beach from Boston last year. "I wanted to work on my tan, but I really wasn't sure if the weather would cooperate. I've got my fingers crossed."

So did officials and beachgoers in Pompano Beach and Miami.

In Pompano Beach, a sudden increase in E. coli and fecal coliform bacteria mysteriously appeared earlier this month, and the 900-foot beach was closed for a week. Officials investigated and began pointing fingers at pigeons that clustered around the beach's pier, dropping fecal waste into nearby waters.

"It's [pigeons] the only source of contamination that's there," Howard Rosen, environmental administrator for the state Health Department, said in an earlier interview. "We know it's not from human waste because there are no possible sources in that area."

Just the opposite in Miami. A construction contractor accidentally ruptured a 54-foot pipeline carrying sewage under Biscayne Bay on June 20, dumping 35 million gallons of raw sewage and forcing the closure of a 25-mile stretch of coastline. Most of Miami-Dade County's beaches were closed for nearly two weeks.

Nobody was thinking of any of this in Delray Beach on Sunday. People were swimming in the surf or settled in along the shore. Joel Pittman, of Delray Beach, had brought his two children -- Sarah, 7, and Alex, 5 -- and they sat nearby, playing in the sand.

"I heard something about that, but I didn't think anything like that would happen here," he said. "I'd think if there were any dangers, they'd let us know."

Lifeguard Tyler Adams, on duty at Atlantic Dunes, said there's been no cause for concern, and no beachgoers had mentioned anything about fear of contamination. On Sunday, there weren't even any "sea pests" in the water, he said. Instead, Adams pitched his own point.

"I'll tell you a better story," Adams said congenially, "Delray Beach Ocean Rescue has won all the regional competitions we've been in -- Boat Patrol of the Year, Lifeguard of the Year."

Adams said the city of Delray Beach on Tuesday will give a proclamation to him and the other two members of his award-winning team -- lifeguards Walter Baum and Paul Miln -- who won first place statewide earlier this month in a Basic Life Support competition in Orlando.

"That's bigger than any contamination up here," he said.

Marian Dozier can be reached at mdoziersun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6643.